Chinese government reveals water quality worse than estimated

New figures released by the Chinese government have revealed that the country's water quality is far worse than originally estimated.

Reuters published details of a new survey issued from Beijing, which found that pollution levels in the nation's water sources in 2007 were far higher than predicted.

This was because agricultural waste was not taken into account, the news provider explained.

When the initial report was published more than two years ago, the Chinese government hailed it as the first year it had succeeded in reducing water pollution, with chemical oxygen demand (COD) figures at 13.8 million tonnes.

However, the latest data found that COD levels actually stood at 30.3 million tonnes, the news agency noted.

Vice environment protection minister Zhang Lijun said that the extended scope of the study and new calculation techniques could account for the majority of the increase, Reuters reported.

The data relating to water quality is part of a national pollution census carried out by the Asian nation, which identified approximately six million sources of waste from the residential, agricultural and industrial sectors.

Posted by Lauren Steadman